According to the AP, the Blue Jays offered arbitration to A.J. Burnett and declined to offer it to Gregg Zaun. No big surprise here. Burnett’s a Type A free agent, so he’ll cost a draft pick to sign.
Twins Offer Arb To Dennys Reyes
According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins offered arbitration to Type B free agent reliever Dennys Reyes. Reyes earned $1MM this year while tossing 46.1 solid innings, so the Twins can’t go wrong either way.
Hanshin Tigers Sign Kevin Mench
Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker passes along a Sanspo report (link in Japanese) that Kevin Mench is nearing a one-year, $2MM deal with the Hanshin Tigers. Mench, 31 in January, wasn’t going to find that kind of money in the States after hitting .243/.321/.357 in 131 plate appearances for the Blue Jays.
Tigers Decline To Offer Arb To Renteria
3:31pm: Andrew Baggarly thinks Renteria and the Giants are "gravitating toward each other" now that he won’t cost a draft pick. Baggarly believes the Giants might be ready to back off from Furcal over health concerns.
2:42pm: According to Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers declined to offer arbitration to Edgar Renteria today. The risk of the Type A free agent accepting must’ve been too strong. Since he will not cost any draft picks, Renteria now becomes more appealing to potential suitors. Rafael Furcal is neither Type A nor B, so he carries the same appeal.
Only 17.3% of MLBTR readers expected the Tigers to offer arb to Renteria.
Brewers Offer Arb To Sabathia, Sheets, Shouse
According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Brewers offered arbitration to C.C. Sabathia (Type A), Ben Sheets (Type A), and Brian Shouse (Type B). They declined to offer arb to Eric Gagne (Type B).
Sheets and Shouse were the question marks. The Brewers apparently don’t mind getting Shouse back on a one-year deal, though he seeks two years. Sheets also seems likely to decline and pursue multiple years. If he declines and signs elsewhere, his new team will lose a draft pick to the Brewers. Ken Davidoff wonders if Sheets might accept the offer.
Rafael Furcal Rumors: Monday
ESPN’s Jayson Stark has the latest on free agent shortstop Rafael Furcal. Furcal’s agent Paul Kinzer doesn’t see his client signing before the winter meetings, which kick off next week.
Four teams are in on Furcal: the Giants, A’s, Braves, and a mystery team. Stark talked to execs who guessed the Red Sox or Orioles could be the fourth team. That team apparently has to make a trade to open up their shortstop position. In a recent poll of over 6,000 MLBTR readers, the A’s won the vote as the team most likely to sign Furcal.
The Braves’ interest will pick up if they trade shortstop Yunel Escobar first. We knew about the Padres; Stark says the Cardinals and Royals also expressed interest in Escobar.
Odds and Ends: Gammons, Kawakami, Buck
Links for Monday…
- Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik admitted to have a conversation with Ken Griffey Jr.’s agent, but wouldn’t reveal anything else.
- One of Matthew Cerrone’s readers dug up a Primera Hora article saying the Mets have been scouting free agent reliever Fernando Cabrera.
- Bob Klapisch looks at Pedro Martinez’s four-year, $53MM deal and asks: was it worth it?
- Rays Index notes that Grant Balfour will use WBC participation as a bargaining chip in contract negotiations (he’s eligible for arbitration).
- Marc Hulet of Baseball Analysts looks at top hitters for the Rule 5 draft.
- Fire Brand of the American League did a Q&A with ESPN’s Peter Gammons. Some good stuff in there.
- A few notes from Patrick Newman at NPB Tracker. The Hanshin Tigers are reportedly considering offering $20MM over four years to Kenshin Kawakami, while Yu Darvish had his contract renewed at $2.7MM for next year.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Mets want to add one starter and push Jonathan Niese to the #5 spot.
- Rany Jazayerli notes that a John Buck trade would make sense for the Royals.
- I mentioned the Royals’ signing of J.R. House earlier, but should add that they also signed Franquelis Osoria and Matt Tupman to minor league deals.
Arbitration Rumors
The deadline for each team’s arbitration decisions is 11pm CST tonight. In this post I am gathering up all the rumors about those decisions. I’ll add updates throughout the day. Check out MLBTR reader predictions here and here.
- The San Francisco Chronicle says Frank Thomas will not be offered arbitration, perhaps because he’d like to come back. Alan Embree might be. MLB.com’s Mychael Urban talked to Embree, and the reliever doesn’t expect to be offered arb.
- Joel Sherman says the Yankees are wavering a bit on the decision to offer arbitration to Bobby Abreu, in fear that he could accept.
- Ken Davidoff says Abreu, Oliver Perez, and Mike Mussina will be offered arbitration. Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, Ivan Rodriguez, Moises Alou, and Luis Ayala will not be offered arb. River Ave. Blues doesn’t agree with the probable Pettitte decision. According to George King of the New York Post, the Yanks made an offer below $16MM to Pettitte a few weeks ago, which was rejected.
- Todd Zolecki says the Phillies won’t offer arb to Tom Gordon or Rudy Seanez. He believes Jamie Moyer will get an offer but Pat Burrell may be too risky.
- Padres GM Kevin Towers says it’s "doubtful" they’ll offer arb to Trevor Hoffman.
- Mark Bowman says John Smoltz won’t be offered arb.
- Jordan Bastian says A.J. Burnett will be offered arbitration.
- Ian Browne says it’s a "near given" the Red Sox will offer arb to Jason Varitek.
- Troy E. Renck says the Rockies will offer arb to Brian Fuentes.
- Ken Rosenthal says the decisions for Adam Dunn, Kerry Wood, and Sheets could go either way.
- Gordon Wittenmyer says the Cubs won’t offer arb to Wood if they expect him to accept. He says Bob Howry will not be offered arb.
- Scott Merkin says Juan Uribe and Ken Griffey Jr. will not be offered arb, while Orlando Cabrera probably will be.
- An arb offer to Mark Grudzielanek seems unlikely, but Dayton Moore wouldn’t rule it out.
At Least Four Teams Interested In Loretta
According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, at least four teams are interested in free agent infielder Mark Loretta. Among them: the Phillies, Pirates, Diamondbacks, and Dodgers. The Pirates have talked to Loretta’s agent twice.
Crasnick figures the Astros won’t offer Loretta arbitration this time around; he accepted last year. He lost his case but still earned $2.75MM. The 37 year-old hit .280/.350/.383 in 297 plate appearances while playing a below-average second base and an above-average third base.
Rockies Rumors: Fuentes, Embree, Taveras
Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post has a few Rockies tidbits today…
- It deserves another mention – Brian Fuentes has scheduled a visit with the Mets. If he signs there, the Rockies will add the Mets’ #25 pick to their own #11 pick in the first round while also snagging a sandwich pick.
- The Rockies want two lefties, probably from the pool of Glendon Rusch, Alan Embree, Brian Shouse, and Joe Beimel. Renck says the Tigers are aggressively pursuing Beimel, while Embree might have extra appeal if he can be had on a one-year deal.
- The Rockies hope to trade Willy Taveras, while free agent Cory Sullivan could fit with the Marlins or D’Backs according to Renck. The Rockies plan to use Ryan Spilborghs in center and perhaps re-sign Scott Podsednik as a reserve.
